- After a long hiatus, Xiaomi has once again kickstarted its tablet portfolio in India with the launch of the Pad 5. This feature-packed tablet is unlike most others in its segment as it offers a high-resolution display, powerful processor, and even supports Xiaomi’s Smart Pen.
- The 10.95-inch LCD panel on the Xiaomi Pad 5 has a resolution of 1,600 x 2,560 pixels. It features a 120Hz refresh rate that makes the UI feel quite fluid. The display is also HDR10+ and Dolby Vision certified for better contrast and colours when streaming supported content. The 10-bit display also has a peak brightness of up to 650 nits. Adding to the certifications is the quad-speaker setup with support for Dolby Atmos.
- The Xiaomi Pad 5 is available in two storage variants. The 128GB variant is priced at Rs. 26,999 and the 256GB variant is available for Rs. 28,999. Both storage variants come with 6GB of RAM and don’t have a microSD slot for storage expansion.
- The Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 SoC in the Xiaomi Pad 5 seems a bit dated but should be good enough for the tablet’s productivity and entertainment needs. Sadly, the Pad 5 doesn’t have a cellular variant, which means you will have to rely on Wi-Fi for Internet connectivity. The tablet also supports Bluetooth 5 and a USB Type-C port with OTG support. There’s no fingerprint reader, so users are limited to the 2D facial recognition system or the old-fashioned passcode for security.
- The Xiaomi Pad 5 runs MIUI 13, which comes with several tablet-friendly optimisations, allowing apps to run in floating windows and more. However, this version of MIUI 13 uses Android 11 as the base. The interface is heavily customised but worked smoothly during my initial use.
- The Xiaomi Pad 5 has a 8,720mAh battery that fast-charges using the bundled 22.5W charger. The Xiaomi Pad 5 supports up to 33W fast charging, but you’ll need to purchase that charger separately. Xiaomi has also included a 13-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera on the Pad 5.
